Last week’s Supreme Court affirmation of the Affordable Care Act is good news for the 6.4 million Americans who stood to lose their health insurance if the decision had gone the other way. But it doesn’t improve matters for those with hearing loss. The ACA, unlike Medicare, does not specifically exclude coverage for hearing aids. In fact, the ACA does not specifically exclude any coverage: it was written in a positive way, delineating several categories of benefits that must be included in insurance policies sold on the exchanges. The Department of Health and Human Services referred to these as benchmarks for essential health benefits.

But the territory is murky. As the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) noted, coverage for hearing aids, hearing-aid accessories and hearing tests is a gray area.

Click here to read more about your state’s plan and its specific benefits (or lack of them) — and learn how you can affect insurance coverage of hearing-health care.